Just as Ye Chuan was about to step into the shower to belt out a song, his phone buzzed with a notification.
He picked it up and saw a message from Luo Xi—
Luo Xi: Chuanchuan, what are you up to?
Seeing her message, Ye Chuan casually video-called her back. A few seconds later, the call connected, and Luo Xi’s face appeared on the screen. She was still in her uniform, having only recently parted ways with him, though she had let down her ponytail into long, loose hair.
She blinked her lively, beautiful eyes curiously but noticed that the other side of the screen didn’t show Ye Chuan. Instead, the background seemed to be the bathroom. "Chuanchuan, are you… taking a shower?"
"Yep," Ye Chuan replied, his voice echoing slightly in the enclosed space. "Hey, Luo Beauty, wanna join me?"
Luo Xi’s face instantly flushed red at his words. "That’s so weird! How would we even shower together?"
"I was just asking," Ye Chuan said casually, not actually serious about the idea.
"Fine… but don’t make any noise, okay?" Luo Xi whispered in response.
Ye Chuan, who had been reaching for a towel, paused mid-motion. From the other end of the call, he heard another voice—
"Xixi, are you going to shower?"
"Mhm, I want to wash up early."
The screen remained dark for a moment, shaking slightly before the sound of a bathroom door locking echoed through.
Then the screen lit up again, and Ye Chuan realized Luo Xi had actually stepped into her own bathroom—though only her face was visible as she pressed a finger to her lips. "Shh."
Ye Chuan was a little surprised by her boldness, but from this angle, he couldn’t see much. He chuckled. "Not much of a view here. How about lowering the camera a bit?"
"No way!" Luo Xi huffed.
"Alright, alright," Ye Chuan sighed dramatically. "Can’t even share the goods with your bro?"
"Ugh, you’re the worst!"
The screen shook again, and this time, Ye Chuan caught a glimpse of the upper curves.
"Happy now?" Luo Xi’s face was still bright red.
"Meh, passable."
"Then no more for you!" The call ended with a beep.
Ye Chuan rubbed his nose after Luo Xi hung up. She was so easily flustered these days—nothing like how she was before they started dating.
Still, he found her shyness kind of adorable.
At the very least, he liked it.
Tossing his phone aside and turning on some music, Ye Chuan finally started his shower.
---
After his shower concert, Ye Chuan returned to his room to find Lan Xiaoke had already tidied everything up. The floor gleamed as if it could reflect light, the blankets were neatly folded, and all the trash had been bagged up.
Lan Xiaoke stood there holding a broom, wearing a proud, expectant look.
There was no denying it—her maid outfit suited her perfectly.
"Pretty clean. Good job," Ye Chuan said, glancing around before pulling out his phone. "Here, 300 for you."
"Woohoo!" Lan Xiaoke cheered, rolling mid-air in excitement. She had expected only 100.
"Gotta bounce! Knock on the wall if you need me!" She made to phase through the wall but forgot the broom couldn’t follow—and Ye Chuan’s bed was right against it.
Thud.
The broom dropped onto Ye Chuan’s bed the moment Lan Xiaoke phased through.
Ye Chuan stared blankly at the broom on his sheets: "…"
A second later, Lan Xiaoke’s head popped back out of the wall. Spotting the broom, she made an "OvO" face. "Uh… brooms are kinda slippery, y’know?"
"100 fine." Ye Chuan deadpanned.
"No way!!! Waaahhh!"
---
After Lan Xiaoke cleaned up the bed again (and Ye Chuan didn’t actually deduct any money—after all, she’d earned it), he sat down and raised a hand. A faint white mist rose from his hair.
Within seconds, his damp hair was completely dry.
"Spiritual energy is so handy," Ye Chuan mused. His chaos-attributed spiritual energy was practically all-purpose—just a little heat, and his hair dried instantly.
Once his hair was sorted, he opened his phone and navigated to the alchemy interface.
"280,000 for one set of materials? That’s worse than robbery." He shook his head but still went ahead with the purchase.
[Heavenly Foundation Establishment Pill: 40% success rate, 60% failure rate, 0% chance of explosion (Success depends on pill quality, cauldron quality, and alchemy level.)]
Huh?!
Forty percent?!
You’re telling me 280,000 only gets me a 40% shot at a Heavenly Foundation Establishment Pill?!
Ye Chuan felt his vision darken as he once again considered settling for a Mortal-grade pill.
But he knew the better the foundation, the stronger the cultivation later.
It had to be Heavenly-grade.
Still, gambling 280,000 on a 40% chance was brutal. His funds were limited—he couldn’t afford many attempts.
With that in mind, Ye Chuan decided to upgrade his cauldron first.
A better cauldron would at least boost his odds, and he might need it for future breakthroughs. Rather than throwing money into a black hole, he preferred tangible improvements.
[Upgrade cauldron quality? Cost: 100,000]
[Cauldron upgrade successful!]
[Cauldron: Mystic Furnace (Mid-High Grade)]
[Heavenly Foundation Establishment Pill: 60% success rate, 40% failure rate, 0% chance of explosion.]
Sixty percent?!
Spending 100,000 had bumped his chances by a full 20%.
Now it was over halfway.
Ye Chuan gritted his teeth. "Screw it, I’m going all in!"
With 280,000 gone in a flash, he squeezed his eyes shut.
"Come on, I feel it—this is the one. Yeah, it’s gonna be good." After muttering a quick mantra, he opened his eyes—
[Pill refining in progress. Time remaining: 239 hours, 59 minutes.]
[Spend 10,000 to speed up?]
Ye Chuan: "…"
Son of a—
After a mental string of curses, he saw the ten-day wait and, without hesitation, tapped the speed-up option.
He’d already spent this much—no turning back now!
[Congratulations! You have obtained a Heavenly Foundation Establishment Pill. It has been added to your inventory.]
It worked!
"HAHAHA! I actually got it! I DID IT!" Ye Chuan had braced for failure, but seeing the pill in his inventory, his grin stretched ear to ear.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
